Page 31 of Wolf Trapped
I reach the small cabin and pound on the door. The man throws the door open, glaring until he sees me on the other side. “Alpha?”
The fear in his eyes has a smirk lifting my lips. “John, are you supposed to be somewhere right now?” I growl.
“Sorry, alpha.” He looks at the ground.
“Oh no. You’re not getting off that easy. Come with me, now.” I reach out, grasping his arm, and practically drag the man to the center of town and toss him to the ground. There’s already a crowd, and whispers fill the air.
“Did Jacob’s death mean nothing to all of you?” I roar.
Angela flinches at my side.
The entire clearing goes silent. Guilty expressions stare back at me.
“I’m sorry, Alpha. I will do my patrols.” John cries, still on his knees.
“It’s not fucking enough that you’re sorry because you were caught. Defiance is still defiance. What if one of your pack mates was attacked like Jacob was, and no one was there to help? That’s what happened to Jacob. We are not selfish in this pack. You wanted to make a statement to defy your alpha. Well, here is mine. Alex, hand me the chains.”
I point to the chains on the ground next to him. Angela must have brought them. Gasps ring out through the area as I motion for John to stand. He takes several steps back, shaking his head, but Carter and Patrick are right behind him with their arms crossed over their chests.
“You earned this punishment.” Patrick snarls. “I carried Jacob’s body back to the village because we didn’t have enough volunteers. I don’t want that to happen again.
John turns to Carter, who sneers at him. “I was forced to make an impossible choice. You think I’m going to let you pass, coward?”
He scans the area, but no one is helping him. “You earned this, John. Just let the alpha punish you and get it over with.” Alex says with a head shake.
John’s shoulders slump, and he bows his head and holds his hands out. The chains clang as I snap them around his wrists and ankles.
“Let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks to skip out on patrols. I will not be lenient. You will spend time in the cells when I find out. I will find out. My enforcers are watching.”
I drag John to the cells and open the heavy metal door shoving him inside. “You will stay in here until I say otherwise.”
“Yes, alpha.” He gulps as I slam the door to the cell. I leave him in chains, not caring about his comfort.
I am done coddling my wolves. They want my father as alpha. They will get him. Nice isn't working, so how about brute force?
11
JARA
“What the hell is going on out there?” The pack is crowded in the center of town, staring at Archer with a man at his feet. Is that the wolf? Did they catch the rogue? The man doesn’t look familiar to me.
Hope fills me as I watch Archer with the man as the crowd seems to close in around him. Patrick and Carter look as if they want to rip the man apart as he seeks an escape. There is none.
As Archer slaps chains on the man, the crowd disperses, and he drags him into a building I have never been in before. Angela breaks off and heads toward the house. I bounce on the balls of my feet as I wait for her to open the door and let me out.
The lock clicks, and I hold back from launching myself at her. “Was that the wolf?” I screech as she opens the door. She frowns in confusion.
“What? Who?” she asks, scanning the room like there might be someone hiding before her eyes land on the window, and she blows out a breath. “No, Jara. That wasn’t the rogue.”
“What?” My shoulders slump, all hope of getting out of here dying with her words. “Who was it, then?”
“John missed his patrol. Alpha threw him in the cells.” She pats my shoulder.
“He put him in the cells for missing his patrol?” It seems kind of harsh to me, but Archer is harsh and cruel. Case in point locking a wolf in a bedroom for a week.
“He was one that never wanted to help with patrols. He defied alpha’s orders, and Archer is tired of the pack thinking he’s weak and that they don’t have to listen to him.”
I shake my head, angry on Archer’s behalf. None of this would happen in Greyson’s pack. His beta and enforcers put the fear of the gods into the pack. Why would anyone do that after what happened to poor Jacob?”
